«Gate closed»...?
 

I guess it's at KLM's discretion.

From experience I know that they hold flights for connecting pax from time to time. I recall one instance where they held a longhaul flight for over half an hour after STD to wait for 34 pax who were inbound on a delayed flight from NCE.

From a practical perspective it may sometimes make sense to wait for pax who are known to already be airside, as looking for and unloading their checked bags may take even longer.

Johan

This is common practice across most major carriers worldwide, particularly at their central hubs where there are many connecting passengers. If passengers can be accommodated without delaying the arrival of the aircraft at its destination, why on earth not?

KL's Operations Center monitors all of this and it, not the gate staff, make a judgment call based on many factors. You are not privvy to most of them. A key factor is knowing that timings are based on averages, but on the day, Operations can make an informed judgment which takes into account weather, air traffic, load and other factors to determine whether all of this works.

Accordingly, you are of course free to stay elsewhere until past the deadline. It goes without saying that if your seat is needed you will be off-loaded or if the prevailing winds are unfavorable or ground traffic horrible, you will be pulling out a credit card to purchase another ticket. Thus, not something one does voluntarily.

Like many things, this all depends on where you sit. The next time you make it home on a tight connection, you may be grateful.

Last long haul flight of the day to that destination?
One of KLM's flights came in a few minutes late and they waited for connecting passengers?
KLM non-revs?
I've seen accommodation of final boarding call for the first reason if the plane is still standing at the gate.
I've seen flights held for up to half an hour for the second reason.
Not just on KLM.
And certainly not consistently.
Be late for final boarding at your own risk.

Also keep in mind that flight times are not always the same as block times. Sometimes, especially short haul, a not so busy day with favorable winds can cause the flight time to be only half of the block time. The pilots know this beforehand and if they know that the flight time is short that day, no reason to not wait for the missing pax.

I have waited for up to an hour on flights to JRO as they where waiting for connecting people on delayed inbounds from the US due to weather.

I had a similar but also unrelated experience yesterday - a message from KLM on WhatsApp, after successfully boarding and getting the "beep" at the gate (I always check) and while sitting in my assigned seat on board, telling me that I had not yet boarded and the flight was closing soon.

Now I'm afraid that the miles/XPs for that flight won't post!

That said, I made a tight connection in CDG on Friday on my outbound journey that had narrowed from an already tight 45 minutes to just 14 - and *still* wasn't the last to board the flight!!!

On the other hand I remember having once been proactively rebooked by KL while still airborne after a small delay on the first leg. I still managed to be at the gate "on time" for the second leg (they were closing the gate but it was not closed yet) but, as I had already been rebooked they could not accept me on the flight - eventhough that was the last flight of the day to CDG.

Not a good strategy for KL but I was happy to be offered a compensation that was about twice the cost of my segment run (yes, at that time that was still a "segment" run :)) and a free night in a nice hotel!

They do that a lot. I've seen several reports over the years of this happening to others. I'm glad that I don't have to transit AMS and was afraid something similar might happen with my tight connection at CDG on Friday.

The only runs that exist in Flying Blue are segment runs. Nobody runs for the miles, at least not on AF and KL - especially now that miles are linked exclusively to the amount paid!

(The reason I was connecting via CDG this weekend was because it was a segment run :D)

I'm glad to say that the miles and XPs have now posted.

I had a bit of a funny interaction on board, by the way. A Dutch gentleman tried to move me out of my seat, telling me that he had 2F. I called over the purser.

Of course, he had CDG Terminal 2F, not seat 2F :D

I guess this must happen at least several times a day at CDG!!!

Last month I flew AMS-CDG-LIS. AMS-CDG was delayed and while I was still in the lounge at AMS I received an email that I had been rebooked on a later flight CDG-LIS. At CDG I saw the plane I should have been on was still boarding. I had to wait for the next flight to LIS, spent over 4 hours in the lounge at CDG. Finally arrived 6 hours later than planned in LIS. My wife and I both received a voucher of € 500 as compensation.